Kentucky athletes averaged over 3.0 GPA for 24th straight semester

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Kentucky players across all sports have been putting the student in student-athlete. For 12 years and counting, University of Kentucky athletes have posted at least a 3.0 grade point average. With the spring semester officially wrapped up, the Wildcat posted an impressive 3.276 GPA amongst just scholarship athletes. If you include non-scholarship athletes (i.e. walk-ons), this number jumped to 3.304.

Mitch Barnhart sounded like a proud papa when boasting about the results:

“I’m proud of the consistency shown in achieving 24 straight semesters of a 3.0 GPA. Strong GPAs are the foundation of graduation and the numerous academic awards and honors our student-athletes have won. Congratulations to our students for another outstanding semester and thanks to our academic staff and coaches for their guidance and encouragement.”

Speaking of graduation rate, Kentucky’s is 92 percent, one point higher than the national average of 91 percent. In total, 465 Wildcats achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher, including 139 Cats who reached 4.0 for the semester.

GPA breakdown per sport

The Men’s Cross Country squad led all teams in average GPA at 3.71 followed closely by Women’s Gold and Women’s Swimming and Diving at 3.676.

But now you’re wondering how the basketball team and football did right? Well, better than the sinister side of you might think. The men’s basketball team finished with a 3.076 average while the football team fell slightly below the target at 2.87.

Take a gander at the complete list of Kentucky Athletics’ GPAs and remember it next time you hear someone bemoan NIL. These players still take school seriously.

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